December 29, 2023
“Yet in the dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.”
~ from O Little Town of Bethlehem by Phillips Brooks
Dear St. Paul’s Family,
Phillips Brooks wrote the lyrics to this beloved Christmas Carol following a trip to the Holy Land in 1865, during which he spent Christmas Eve in Bethlehem’s “Old Church.” Living through the US Civil War, I can imagine the fears and hopes of which he wrote: hopes that peace on earth and goodwill for humankind would be realized and never happen again; fears that the animus between the states would erupt once again in another bloody, deadly war between the states, a divided nation, schisms in denominations, and friendships.
Over 159 years later, the situation seems all too familiar, for our nation and our world.
Phillips Brooks got it right. Jesus, the light of the world that shines in the darkness and cannot be put out, is the center point of history. He is the One who can hold the tension when all of our hopes and our fears collide. Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, gets us intimately, experienced hopes and fears, just like us, even to the point of death. Death could not hold him. The light continues to shine in the darkest of nights.
The sun is setting on 2023, and will soon rise on 2024. Step into the new year, with all your hopes and fears, assured that Jesus is with you always. To the end of the world. Even when you doubt.
With prayers for peace ~ Anne
Wayfinding 